


Rescue Mission

by EnochianWhisperer



Category: Supernatural
Genre: One Shot, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-03-24 00:11:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13799265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnochianWhisperer/pseuds/EnochianWhisperer
Summary: Jack makes it to the Alternate Universe. Operation Hail Mary is a go.





	Rescue Mission

**Author's Note:**

> The work is a continuation one-shot piece written in direct response to 13x09 "The Bad Place." I might, might continue this once I see canon play out and if I'm dissatisfied with it.

" _...Mary?_ "  
  
Jack almost couldn't believe that he'd done it. The smell of dank, heavy air had hit him like water when he appeared inside the decrepit little shack. Right in front of the iron maiden where Mary Winchester hung. She didn't look shocked to have seen him materialize out of nowhere. Instead she looked fatigued, but rigid.  
  
" _Who are you...?_ " came a faint reply from rasped lips.  
  
"...Jack. My name is Jack."  
  
Recognition lit her eyes. " _Jack...? Kelly's son?_ "  
  
He hurried to his feet. "Don't worry, I'm going to get you out—"  
  
" _Wait, wait!_ " Mary gasped as he approached her with outstretched hands. A soft moan followed and then Jack realized the delicacy of the situation: she was teetering precariously, trying not to impale herself. Deep wounds circled her waist and she had piercings up her back, down her front, and even her legs were spotted. Some of those wounds were beginning to fester. Jack examined the cage. He wasn't sure how he would be able to free Mary without harming her in the process. As he searched for a solution, Mary spoke up again. " _You're really Kelly's son?_ "  
  
"Yes," he answered absently. Mary waited for further explanation, but he was too absorbed in the cage.  
  
" _...How?_ "  
  
Then he looked up at her. "I grew up really fast."  
  
Mary could see that, but she was in no mood to point out that he had needlessly stated the obvious.  
  
" _You just... grew up?_ "  
  
"Yes." Then, as if it occurred that his response was insufficient, "My mother told me that the world was dangerous, so I knew that I couldn't afford to be a weak, helpless baby."  
  
Mary was exhausted. Her feet hurt from standing for so long, but the questions forming in her mind were the only things keeping her awake. One at a time...  
  
"She _told_ you this."  
  
"That's right." Jack was circling the cage, then he paused in thought. "Well, I don't think she knew that I could hear her. Or respond."  
  
"How long have I been here..."  
  
"...About three months." Jack was sorry to deliver the news. Mary closed her eyes.  
  
"Where are my boys? ...Sam...Dean..."  
  
Jack had no idea. When he used Kaia Nieves to jump-start his own power, the energy in that ship's helm was immense and volatile. He didn't know where any of the others were, not even Kaia. His focus was completely on getting to Mary's universe. He tried to pull the Winchesters through the rift with him, but he lost his grip and they slipped through his fingers. Jack didn't want to tell Mary that he lost her sons. He didn't want to lie either, but Sam and Dean taught him that sometimes lying was a necessary evil.  
  
"...They're safe," he said, "back in our universe."  
  
This seemed to relieve her.  
  
"I need to get you out of here," he continued.  
  
"I don't know when Michael will be back," Mary said.  
  
"Michael?"  
  
"The archangel Michael."  
  
"...Lucifer's brother?" Jack slowly guessed.  
  
"...Yes, I suppose."  
  
Jack nodded. So now he had an uncle too.  
  
"Michael keeps the key on him. I don't know how you can—"  
  
"I don't need a key," Jack interrupted. "I can pry the bars apart."  
  
Mary stared at him.  
  
_Of course_ , she thought. _I'm an idiot._  
  
"But not without hurting you," he added.  
  
Mary considered this. Then she asked, "Can you heal?"  
  
Jack hesitated "...No."  
  
She sighed. The room around here was rotating slowly around her. A few slow breaths later, she nodded with resignation.  
  
"Do it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Get me out of here. I'm on the verge of passing out. I'd rather not shank myself in the process. ...Again."  
  
"I just said I'll hurt you. Badly."  
  
"If a few more seconds of pain is the price to pay for getting out of this damn deathtrap, I'll pay it."  
  
Jack grimaced. They he stepped forward. Mary braced herself. He grabbed two of the bars—and yanked. The iron maiden jerked and Mary tipped. She screamed. Jack grit his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut against her pain. He'd never heard anything so horrible. With effort, the iron warped beneath his hands, creating two bows—an opening that wasn't nearly wide enough for her to climb through. Jack worked his way down, biting the bullet as Mary shouted and moaned in agony. He jerked the same bars apart all the way to her knees and then she fell forward. Jack caught her. He awkwardly pulled her loose from the ruined cage and it rattled violently, swaying on its chain, when she came free. Her boots hit the floor and he gently set the rest of her down. Mary gasped and panted. Her limbs were rigid, but she shook and her fingers twitched.  
  
" _Damn it..._ ," she whispered, and her eyes closed.  
  
Given the state of her body, Jack didn't fault her for falling unconscious. But he had to get them out. He checked his surroundings, then put his eyes back on Mary. He couldn't just whisk her away from the shack by flight. He regretted the self-centered nature of his abilities: he couldn't heal anyone but himself; couldn't teleport anyone but himself; and it turned out that he couldn't interdimensionally transport anyone _but_ himself. A pang of self-hatred came over him for his power limitations and his shoulders sagged. But he didn't linger on his feelings. It looked like he didn't have any other options.  
  
Jack hefted Mary _carefully_ up in his arms. Slow, he made his way to the front door of the rickety building. When he reached the door, which was closed, he shifted Mary so that she was slung over one shoulder in order to free a hand. He twisted the old, corroding knob and pulled the door open. He stepped out onto a small, rotting porch and looked for the most promising horizon.  
  
Wherever in this world he was, it was dry and barren. There were bumps of slopes around them, litterings of dead weeds, barely a tree in sight, and the horizon far beyond was a mountain range cut by the clumsy scissor in a child's hand. Towards the right the mountains disappeared behind nearer hills, and the sun was setting. He saw pillars of smokes rising like spires into the sky, and Jack concluded that danger lay in those directions. He walked away from the house and turned aside to see what lay out back. He saw that the shack was on a hill and that a succession of slopes gave way to the flatlands of a valley. On the far side, more mountains ran at a diagonal angle, away from them.  
  
He didn't see anything suspect and decided that heading north was their safest bet. Jack adjusted his hold on Mary and began the aimless trudge downhill. Each stride kicked up dust that the wind carried away. He had no idea how he was going to get them both back to their world, but that was a problem for later. First he had to get them as far from here as possible, and hope that they wouldn't get caught by any unsavory people. Or angels.


End file.
